A method of completing pre-paid wireless telephone calls to a subscriber, the subscriber having a prepaid subscriber account balance stored in a database, where the prepaid subscriber account balance is associated with a predetermined wireless telephone number assigned to the subscriber, comprising: receiving the subscriber's wireless telephone number at a wireless switch, the telephone number corresponding to a wireless telecommunications event initiated by a party calling the subscriber's wireless telephone number, the wireless switch recognizing the subscriber's wireless telephone number as being associated with the subscriber; communicating between a computer with access to the database and the wireless switch; validating existence of a pre-determined subscriber account balance in the database; and if the validating step is successful, completing a call. view more

The method of claim 1 comprising: checking for a connection with the subscriber's wireless telephone, and periodically validating a call based on the balance associated with the account during the telecommunications event until the call is minated. view more

The method of claim 2 wherein the call is terminated due to validation being unsuccessful.

The method of claim 1 comprising: checking for a connection with the subscriber's wireless telephone; and causing the call to be terminated when a time limit based on the account balance is expired.

A method of completing wireless telephone call requests to a subscriber to a pre-paid wireless telephone service, comprising: receiving at a wireless switch an identifier corresponding to a pre-paid wireless subscriber to whom a wireless telephone call is directed; forwarding the identifier to a pre-paid wireless service provider associated with the pre-paid wireless subscriber that validates an account associated with the pre-paid wireless subscriber based on the forwarded identifier, and if the validation is successful, passes the identifier to a wireless switch and causes the call to be completed, performs periodic real-time validation of the account while the call is in progress, and causes the call to be interrupted while the call is in progress if the periodic validation fails. view more

A method of wireless telecommunications with respect to a subscriber, the subscriber having a prepaid subscriber account balance stored in a database where the prepaid subscriber account balance is associated with a predetermined wireless telephone number assigned to the subscriber, comprising: receiving an identifier associated with the subscriber at a wireless switch, the wireless switch recognizing the identifier as being associated with a pre-paid subscriber for whom a wireless telecommunications event has been initiated by a party calling the subscriber's wireless telephone number; communicating between a computer with access to the database and the wireless switch; attempting to establish a connection between the wireless switch and the subscriber's wireless telephone; checking for a connection with the subscriber's wireless telephone, and causing a call to be terminated when a time limit based on the account balance is expired. view more

The method of claim 11 comprising: identifying at least one cost variable associated with the call; determining a rate associated with a fixed interval of time based on the cost variable; and converting the account balance to a maximum call length based on the account balance and based on the rate. view more

A method of completing wireless telephone call requests to a subscriber to a pre-paid wireless telephone service, comprising: receiving at a wireless switch an identifier corresponding to a pre-paid wireless subscriber to whom a wireless telephone call is directed; forwarding the identifier to a pre-paid wireless service provider associated with the pre-paid wireless subscriber that validates an account associated with the pre-paid wireless subscriber based on the forwarded identifier, and if the validation is successful, passes the identifier to a wireless switch, causes the call to be completed, sets a time limit based on the account balance, and causes the call to be terminated when the time limit is expired. view more

A system for managing pre-paid wireless communications, comprising: a wireless switch at which a wireless call request is received; and a pre-paid wireless service provider, in communication with the wireless switch, that selectively authorizes the wireless call request based on information in the wireless call request that identifies a pre-paid wireless subscriber to whom the call request is directed; wherein the pre-paid wireless service provider selectively authorizes the wireless call request by validating in real time an account associated with the identified pre-paid wireless subscriber; and wherein validation of an account by the pre-paid wireless service provider occurs periodically during a call and the call is caused to be terminated if validation is unsuccessful. view more

A method for managing pre-paid wireless communications, comprising: at a pre-paid wireless service provider, communicating with a wireless switch at which a wireless call request is received, and selectively authorizing the wireless call request based on information in the wireless call request that identifies a pre-paid wireless subscriber to whom the call request is directed; wherein the pre-paid wireless service provider selectively authorizes the wireless call request by validating in real time an account associated with the identified pre-paid wireless subscriber; and wherein validation of an account by the pre-paid wireless service provider occurs periodically during a call and the call is caused to be terminated if validation is unsuccessful. view more

A system for managing pre-paid wireless communications, comprising: a wireless switch at which a wireless call request is received; and a pre-paid wireless service provider, in communication with the wireless switch, that selectively authorizes the wireless call request based on information in the wireless call request that identifies a pre-paid wireless subscriber to whom to call request is directed; wherein the pre-paid wireless service provider selectively authorizes the wireless call request by validating in real time an account associated with the identified pre-paid wireless subscriber; and wherein validation of an account by the pre-paid wireless service provider includes causing a call is caused to be terminated when a time limit based on a balance in the account is expired. view more

A method for managing pre-paid wireless communications, comprising: receiving a wireless call request at a wireless switch; and communicating between the wireless switch and a pre-paid wireless service provider that selectively authorizes the wireless call request based on information in the wireless call request that identifies a pre-paid wireless subscriber to whom the call request is directed, and that accesses a database of pre-paid wireless subscribers, comprising account information for the pre-paid wireless subscribers, in order to decide whether to authorize the wireless call request, the pre-paid wireless service provider's selective authorization of the wireless call request being based on a real-time validation of an account balance associated with the identified pre-paid wireless subscriber. view more

A method for managing pre-paid wireless communications, comprising: at a pre-paid wireless service provider, communicating with a wireless switch at which a wireless call request is received, and selectively authorizing the wireless call request based on information in the wireless call request that identifies a subscriber to whom the call request is directed; and accessing a database of pre-paid wireless subscribers, comprising account information for the pre-paid wireless subscribers, in order to decide whether to authorize the wireless call request, the pre-paid wireless service provider's selective authorization of the wireless call request being based on a real-time validation of the of an account balance associated with the identified pre-paid wireless subscriber. view more

A method for pre-paid wireless telephone service, the method comprising: identifying an originator of a wireless telephone call as a subscriber to a pre-paid wireless telephone service; causing the call to be connected to a pre-paid switching system; and a wireless switch sending an identifier associated with the destination of the call and an identifier associated with a pre-paid account of the originator of the call to the pre-paid switching system that validates the balance in the account of the originator of the call, causes the call to be connected to the destination, sets a time limit based on the account balance, and causes the call to be terminated when the time limit is expired. view more

A method for pre-paid wireless telephone service, the method comprising: at a pre-paid switching system, receiving from a wireless switch an identifier associated with a destination of a wireless telephone call, and an identifier associated with a pre-paid account of an originator of the call, the originator of the call being identified as being a subscriber to the pre-paid wireless telephone service; validating the balance in the account of the originator of the call; causing the call to be connected to the destination; and periodically validating the call based on the balance associated with the account and causing the call to be terminated if validation is unsuccessful. view more

A method for pre-paid wireless telephone service, the method comprising: at a pre-paid switching system, receiving from a wireless switch an identifier associated with a destination of a wireless telephone call, and an identifier associated with a pre-paid account of an originator of the call, the originator of the call being identified as being a subscriber to the pre-paid wireless telephone service; validating the balance in the account of the originator of the call; causing the call to be connected to the destination; and causing the call to be terminated when a time limit based on the balance in the account is expired. view more

A method for pre-paid wireless telephone service, the method comprising: identifying an originator of a wireless telephone call as a subscriber to a pre-paid wireless telephone service; causing the call to be connected to a pre-paid switching system; and sending an identifier associated with the destination of the call and an identifier associated with a pre-paid account of the originator of the call to the pre-paid switching system that validates the balance in the account of the originator of the call, causes the call to be connected to the destination, and periodically validates the call based on the balance associated with the account and terminates the call if validation is unsuccessful; wherein the identifier associated with the pre-paid account is an electronic serial number. view more

A system for providing pre-paid wireless telephone service, comprising: (a) a database of information pertaining to subscribers to the pre-paid wireless telephone service; (b) a computer with access to the database of information pertaining to subscribers to the pre-paid wireless telephone service, which computer receives, from a wireless switch, an identifier associated with a destination of a wireless telephone call, and an identifier associated with a pre-paid account of an originator of the call, the originator of the call being identified as being a subscriber to the pre-paid wireless telephone service; (c) a computer that receives information from the wireless switch and that: (i) validates a balance in the pre-paid account of the originator of the call; (ii) causes the call to be connected to the destination; (iii) sets a time limit based on the account balance; and (iv) causes the call to be terminated when the time limit is expired. view more

A method for pre-paid wireless telephone service comprising: receiving an identifier associated with a pre-paid account of an originator of a call at a wireless switch; at the wireless switch, determining whether the identifier is associated with a pre-paid account; and if the identifier is associated with a pre-paid account, communicating with a pre-paid service provider and causing the identifier associated with the pre-paid account and an identifier associated with a destination of the call to be sent to the pre-paid service provider. view more

A method as set forth in claim 35 and including: at the pre-paid service provider, validating the call based on the balance associated with the account; causing the call to be completed; and periodically validating the call based on the balance associated with the account and causing the call to be terminated if validation is unsuccessful. view more

The method of claim 35 comprising: at the pre-paid service provider, validating the call based on the balance associated with the account; causing the call to be completed; and causing the call to be terminated when a time limit based on the account balance is expired. view more

A method for pre-paid wireless telephone service, the method comprising: identifying an originator of a wireless telephone call as a subscriber to a pre-paid wireless telephone service; causing the call to be connected to a pre-paid switching system; and a wireless switch sending an identifier associated with the destination of the call and an identifier associated with a pre-paid account of the originator of the call to the pre-paid switching system that validates the balance in the account of the originator of the call, causes the call to be connected to the destination, and periodically validates the call based on the balance associated with the account and causes the call to be terminated if validation is unsuccessful. view more

The method of claim 42, 29, 30, or 31 comprising: identifying at least one cost variable associated with the call; determining a rate associated with a fixed interval of time based on the cost variable; and converting the account balance to a maximum call length based on the account balance and based on the rate. view more

The method as set forth in claim 42, 29, 30, or 31 wherein the identifier associated with the destination of the call is entered by the subscriber prior to origination of the wireless telephone call, and the identifier associated with the pre-paid account of the originator of the call is transparently sent to the wireless switch upon origination of the wireless telephone call. view more

The system of claim 33 to 34 wherein the computer with access to the database is networked to a server computer with which the database is associated.